Mindoro

I haven't sent an update for a while for a couple of reasons: First, we have been very busy, and second much of what we have we have been doing has needed to be kept quiet. We have been traveling a lot, and will be for a while. We attended and took part in the District Conference on Mindoro on Aug. 4th & 5th. We don't often go there, but have really enjoyed the few times we have gone. The boat ride is shorter than the ride to Marinduque and the District is better organized there than on Marinduque. We both spoke during the conference, me during the Sat. leadership training and Diane during the Sunday meeting. I spoke about how members can assist the missionaries and Diane spoke about how we recover the less active. Attached is a picture of members who traveled to conference on Sunday in a jeepnie. They came from Pinamalayan. You sort of have to ask yourself if members at home have enough faith and want to attend conference badly enough to make a three hour ride like this.

We came back and then went to Santa Cruz to work with Elders Brown and Mendon. We have known Elder Brown for a long time and have always enjoyed working with him. Not long ago we were there to work with one district to encourage the less active to come back, and we were invited by Elder Brown to come back and work with some of their investigators. They are really good missionaries. They are the Zone Leaders in the Santa Cruz Zone. We spent most of the day with them and drove the circuitous route back to Lucena. Attached is a picture of a jeepnie that didn't quite make the turn. Two days later we went back to Santa Cruz for Zone Interviews, and left that afternoon for Marinduque. The next day we met with Brother Reyos and called him to be the new District Pres. Following this we met with Pres. Marchano and released him as District Pres. He took it better than I thought he would. Not long before this we replaced a Branch Pres. in Terrijos. I believe both of these changes will help the members on Marinduque and the missionary work there. The cute couple on the tricycle is President and Sister Janda she is theDistrict RS President and he is 1st counselor in the district Presidency this is how they travel all over the island.

Attached is a picture of me pointing to an orange - I know it is green, but they tell me they are like a cross between an orange and a grapefruit. Oh, I nearly forgot - this is the rainy season here. That doesn't mean it rains everyday, but it does mean when it does it is still hot and even more humid. It also stirs the sea up a little, or a lot like on our ride to Marinduque. When the natives are sea sick you know it is pretty rough. I took some pictures of the spray from the boat as it crashes through the waves, and one is attached. No, we didn't get sea sick, but one of the missionaries did on the way home. They kept us waiting near the pier for over an hour and waves were really bad - at one point I was certain one of the trucks in the cargo hold was going to tip over - but it didn't so all is well.

We attended a fireside the missionaries in Lucena put on Sat. night. The chaple was almost full with new members and investigators. They told us there were 23 investigators in attendance. A job well done by the missionaries!

We are still working with several young couples that need to get married before they can be baptized. Each one seems to set the standard for difficulty in solving the probelms.

In the this picture is Elder Quiambao and sister the tie that he has on is one that Bishop Johnson gave last summer and elder love it we have seen alot of the ties that were sent over here.